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At Bridgeton's Broad Street Cemetery, guardrails should be removed, county engineer says

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Pictured is the Old Broad Street Presbyterian Church Cemetery in Bridgeton after a car jumped the guardrail, taking down the fence, and damaged some of the headstones, Friday, Jan. 17, 2014. (Staff Photo by Britney Lillya/South Jersey Times)
(Britney Lillya)

BRIDGETON — Broad Street Cemetery will no longer have guardrails protecting it on the North West Avenue side where Greenwich Road and Central Avenue dead end.

But there will be something protecting the iron fence around the historic, 10,000-grave site from drivers who fail to heed the end of the road.

Bill Rafferty, five months short of 50 years as an engineer, met with cemetery stakeholders Jim Bergmann, Ken Freitag and Bruce Hankins Friday afternoon at the site of the latest accident.

That was after Rafferty, the county engineer, sat down with Freeholder Tony Surace and county roads superintendent Don Olbrich on Thursday.

Bergmann had requested the county move an existing guardrail protecting the cemetery across the road from where Central Avenue ends.

Bergmann wanted it closer to the West Avenue to better protect the cemetery fence.

At 3:45 on a Monday morning after an Eagles win over the Chicago Bears, the driver of a Ford F-150 pickup allegedly blew the stop sign. The truck hit the curb, flew the guardrail, police said, took down the iron fence and traveled 110 feet into the cemetery.

The driver was charged with driving while intoxicated.

It was at least the fifth such invasion of the cemetery over the years by an errant vehicle.

“Here’s where I am, guys,’’ began Rafferty. “Guiderails are designed to deflect cars.

“They should never, ever be designed to be hit head-on.’’

So the smashed guardrail already in place didn’t belong there in the first place.

“So what I’m going to recommend to the freeholder board,’’ said Rafferty, “is to remove this guiderail and the one down there ... and that’s my recommendation.’’

And?

“Nothing,’’ said Rafferty, who would make a great orator.

“You mean,’’ replied a stunned Hankins, “you would recommend something not to make (the situation) better, but to make it worse?’’

The cemetery line begins at the iron fence.

Rafferty said the cemetery association could do anything they wanted on their own property, but not at county expense.

Somebody suggested that the curb be eliminated that causes vehicles to go airborne in the first place.

“Very possible,’’ said Rafferty.

The rumble strips on Central Avenue did no good because the F-150 was reportedly in the wrong lane.

“So what deterrent do we use?’’ asked Hankins, the mayor of Hopewell Township.

“I’ve been wrestling with that,’’ said Rafferty, who was not county engineer when not just one, but two guardrails were placed on the spot.

“One was taken out with the Dare tombstone accident,’’ said Freitag, “and never replaced. I did repair work on that one.’’

“I have no answer for a 3 a.m. drunk,’’ said Rafferty “I swear to you, a flashing light would not have prevented (the latest) accident.’’

Freitag conducted a brief tour of the latest damage, including one tombstone that was buried two feet in the ground where the truck landed.

The tombstone of a Civil War veteran (Bowen) was knocked into a dirt roadway running through the cemetery.

Volunteers using Freitag’s tripod and his and Bergmann’s expertise put them all back in their proper place.

Several are chipped.

“It’s like being a little pregnant,’’ grimaced the funeral director.

Back at the fence, Rafferty, Bergmann and Hankins had been huddling.

“While you were away,’’ announced Rafferty, “one of these guys suggested those big yellow barrels filled with sand be placed here.

“I’m going to investigate that.’’

Freitag brightened.

“We are a Christian organization not only looking to protect the cemetery, but also prevent people from getting hurt,’’ he said.

“We could landscape it.’’

Rafferty couldn’t commit to anything.

“I have to check state guidelines,’’ he said. “And I can only make recommendations to the freeholders.’’

“Would it help if one of us attended the meeting?’’ asked Hankins.

“I would suggest an elected official,’’ said Rafferty to the Hopewell mayor.

A flashing light at the end of Central Avenue was also discussed.

“I am going to recommend the removal of the guardrail,’’ said Rafferty. “I am going to start the process for the possibility of a flasher (hanging out above the end of Central Avenue).’’

And, of course, the barrels filled with sand.

Rafferty is retiring in June.

“(If approved) I don’t expect the flasher to be in place by then,’’ he said. “The barrels, yes.’’